


The Unexpected Little Things

by Myoneloveismusic



Series: Airline AU [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Airline AU, M/M, NO CAPES, jason's good with kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 21:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myoneloveismusic/pseuds/Myoneloveismusic
Summary: Tim learns something interesting about Jason on their next flight. And Jason learns that there's an airline gossip community. And for some unspeakable reason, he and Tim are the hottest topic.





	The Unexpected Little Things

“You have your pre-flight checks taken care of?” Roy asked as he stifled a yawn.

“Yeah, I’ve got mine done, but are you sure you’re okay to be flying? You look exhausted.”

Roy smiled and rubbed at his eyes which had more noticeable bags than usual. “Yeah, I’m good. Just didn’t get too much sleep last night. I think I’ll need an extra coffee or two.”

“I’m on it,” Jason said, pushing out of his chair.

One of the best things before they had to take off was the freedom to move into the main cabin of the plane. They didn’t have to worry about keeping the cabin locked which made things so much simpler.

“Hey Tim?” he asked, stepping through the door. He blinked when he saw Tim kneeling in front of a crying toddler, trying to smile through the grimace that was trying to pull his lips down. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

“Captain Todd,” Tim said, standing quickly. “This little guy is just a bit nervous about being on the plane is all.”

“It’s his first time flying,” his mom said, looking more than a little harried. “Here Nathaniel. You want Mr. Tricey don’t you?” she asked, waving a stuffed triceratops in front of him.

Jason could see a line of passengers looking frustrated at the delay in boarding their flight behind them and knew he needed to help before things got even worse.

“No!” the boy shouted, making the other passenger’s frustration more evident.

Jason stepped forward and kneeled in front of him. “Hey, little man, there’s no need to cry. You know who I am, right?”

He sniffled and opened his eyes enough to stare at Jason as two fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

“The pilot,” he mumbled.

Jason grinned. “That’s right. And you know what the pilot’s job is?”

“To uh…to fly the…to fly the plane.”

Jason nodded. “That’s right, Nathaniel. I’m the pilot and I’m here to fly the plane. And you know what’s cool about flying a plane?”

He shook his head, his eyes drying as his earlier distress was beginning to disappear.

Jason held up his hand horizontally in the air, his palm facing the floor. “We get to go really, really fast,” he said, moving his hand through the air. “And then when we’re fast enough, we zoom off the ground and shoot up into the sky!” he explained, tilting his hand in an upward anger to slice through the air like a plane would in takeoff.

“Like a pterodactyl!” Nathaniel said, grinning and jumping up and down.

Jason nodded. “Exactly like a pterodactyl! And do you know how pterodactyls fly?”

“They flap their wings!” Nathaniel cried, waving his arms up and down as he jumped and skipped in a circle.

“That’s right,” Jason agreed, grinning widely and nodding. “Now Nathaniel, I have a very important question to ask you. It’s a job that only you can do for me. Are you ready to hear what it is?”

Nathaniel nodded, head shaking up and down as he tried to make himself look taller.

“Good, okay now what I need you to do, is be on your very best pterodactyl behavior, because with your powerful wings, you’re going to help me fly this plane. Do you think you can do that for me?”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Nathaniel cheered, jumping up and down.

“That’s great!” Jason said with a grin. “And do you know what super powerful pterodactyls like you need?”

He shook his head, nearly covering his mouth as he giggled.

“You need a nice triceratops friend, don’t you think?”

He nodded. “Mommy! Mommy! Can I have Mr. Tricey? Can I have Mr. Tricey, please?”

Jason glanced up and found his mother looking ten times more relaxed. She nodded and passed her son his stuffed dinosaur which he hugged to his chest.

Jason stood from his crouch and smiled at the woman. “Have a nice flight.”

“Thank you so much,” she sighed.

“Of course, Ma’am.”

“Come on, Nathaniel. It’s time for us to find our seats. Say ‘thank you’ to the nice pilot,” she said, taking her son’s hand.

“Thank you, Mr. Pilot!” he cried, nearly skipping down the aisle as they left to find their seats.

Jason nodded at the crowd of passengers that shoved through the door and into the plane to get to their own seats. He smiled as they passed, waiting for the crowd to die down before he asked Tim what he’d come out for in the first place.

Tim sidled up next to him. “That was amazing, Jason,” he whispered.

Jason shrugged. “It was nothing, really. I was just trying to help her out.”

“I think you did a little more than just help her out. You helped out everyone else on this flight and calmed down an upset kid. That’s more than I could’ve done,” he scoffed.

“Do you not like kids?” Jason asked, glancing out of the corner of his eye.

“It’s not that I dislike them,” Tim admitted. “I’m just not good with them. If you hadn’t stepped in when you did, I probably would’ve made Nathaniel’s meltdown worse. Something would’ve caught fire and we would’ve had to evacuate the plane…”

Jason chuckled. “Well, we wouldn’t want that, now would we?” he asked.

Tim shook his head. “No, we really wouldn’t.”

“Anyway, what I originally came out to ask you, was if you could grab some strong coffee for Roy. He apparently had a bit of a long night and needs something to give him a little pep.”

“I’ll have some in for you in two minutes,” he said, slipping between two passengers to head towards the back of the plane where their refreshments cart was kept.

Jason stepped back into the cockpit, finding Roy hadn’t moved from his spot in his seat.

“Tim will have some coffee up here in a minute. He’s just got to get through the wave of passengers.”

“Thank god. Although it took you longer to get back in here than it should’ve. Were you making out with Tim in the bathroom?”

Jason huffed and rolled his eyes. “No, jackass. There was an upset kid.”

“Ah, working the old Todd charm that somehow quiets all screaming children of various ages. I never know how you do it, but you’ve saved everyone on more than one flight the pain of having to sit through an upset child,” Roy sighed. “The only good thing about being up here is that we rarely have to hear them.”

“We may not hear them while it’s happening, but we certainly get plenty of complaints after we land and every elderly man feels the need to tell us we shouldn’t let people travel with small children because it disrupts their experience,” Jason grumbled. “And Nathaniel really was a sweet kid. He was just nervous about the whole flying part. I can’t blame him for that.”

“Oh no,” Roy groaned.

Jason raised an eyebrow and glanced over at him. “Oh no, what?”

“You’re going to do that thing again.”

Jason frowned. “What thing?”

Roy waved his hand at him. “The thing where you make kids feel special and just make everyone groan with how cheesy you are.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Roy sighed. “You don’t have to know what I’m talking about, but you’re still going to do it and I’m going to point it out as soon as the words come out of your mouth.”

“Yeah okay,” he scoffed.

Someone knocked on the cabinet behind them. Jason turned and looked over his shoulder, finding Tim standing in the doorway with two very large cups of coffee.

“Where did you get cups that size? I thought we only carried the ones the passengers got.”

Roy twisted around in his seat and grinned, sticking his hand towards Tim to beckon him over. “Yes, sweet, sweet caffeine. Come to me you goddess of life and give me the energy I need to get through today.” He took a long drink, sighing when he came up for air. “Thank fuck for you Tim. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Probably be coffee-less,” he said with a smile. He held out the other cup to Jason who happily took it, inhaling the steam and the faint smell of something vanilla. “And to answer your question, no, we don’t normally keep such large cups on hand, but I thought I’d start making an exception since our pilots sometimes need more than we can fit in a small cup. It’ll keep you guys awake and you won’t need to get up as much for more coffee.”

“Oh, so that’s it,” Jason said with a smirk.

Tim raised an eyebrow and gave him a look.

“You just don’t want us bugging you as much with demands for coffee.”

Roy snickered. “I knew Tim couldn’t stand your ass.”

“I can stand his ass just fine,” Tim said, bracing his elbow on the top of Jason’s seat. “What I can’t stand is getting harassed by passengers when I’m just trying to get you something to drink and they think they’re the most privileged fucks in the world. Plus, I’d rather keep the two guys who keep us from crashing in a fiery explosion of death, happy and awake to avoid said fiery death. Now, I do believe it’s almost time for us to depart our gate which is my cue to annoy the passengers with our pre-flight checks.”

“Have a nice flight, Tim. Despite the coffee runs and dealing with shitty passengers,” Jason murmured as he moved to turn away.

Tim glanced back at him and smiled, gaze softening around the edges. “You too,” he said, voice soft before he stepped out of the cockpit.

Roy gagged next to him and Jason shot him an acidic glare.

“Don’t give me that look,” Roy muttered, putting his coffee in his cupholder. “The two of you are so gross over each other that you really do need to just admit you’re dating. I don’t care how much you deny it, Tim would never be that soft and gooey with me.”

“Maybe that’s because we’re not hiding anything, Roy,” Jason muttered, watching him shut and lock the door to the cockpit, cutting them off from the rest of the plane. “We’re not dating, so you can stop pressing the issue.”

“I still don’t buy it,” Roy huffed, dropping back down into his seat and pulling his headset on. “Everyone who’s flown with you or heard the stories of the way you two are when you fly together is convinced you two are dating. I didn’t even know there was an airline gossip community, but there is and you and Tim are the topic of practically every conversation.”

Jason shook his head and pulled his own headset on. He watched as the light indicating the plane’s side door was open turned off.

“I swear, I’ve heard more romantic things surrounding you and Tim than I ever care to hear or witness ever again. Please, just get your head out of your ass and ask him out, or tell the rest of us you two are dating because I’m slowly being tortured and I’d like to retain some of my sanity considering how much we have to fly together.”

He paused their conversation as they listened to commands from air traffic control and listed their flight number and ready status. He tried to hide his smile when Tim’s voice came over the plane’s speaker as he led the safety announcements.

Roy glared at him and pointed a strongly emphasized finger in his direction. Jason rolled his eyes and reached over to swat at him as they backed the plane away from the gate and turned towards the intersecting portions of the runway.

“This isn’t over,” Roy hissed as they made the final turn onto their runway and paused, letting the engines warm up as they waited for the final command from air traffic control that they were ready to take off.

Jason shrugged and grinned, leaning forward once the cue came through their headsets.

“10-4,” he chirped.

When he was first learning to fly, the most terrifying part of take-off was initially getting going. He never thought they’d manage to get going fast enough before they ran out of runway. But they did it every time. And even now, the sense of weightlessness that came as their front wheels left the ground was incredible and gave Jason the shot of adrenaline that made his job worth it.

He and Roy both let out a slow breath as they continued to rise through the atmosphere. They weren’t to cruising altitude yet, but it was a comfort as the ground dropped farther and farther away from the bottom of the plane.

Jason glanced at the altimeter, watching it rise right along with them. They broke through the first layer of clouds, their vision obscured momentarily, but their GPS kept going strong and showed they were clear of any other planes that might be in flight in their area.

They banked to the left, adjusting their course slightly to keep on track with their destination coordinates as they climbed the last few hundred feet to cruising altitude.

“There we go,” Roy said once they leveled off. “We did it again.”

Jason chuckled. “Now we just have to land it.”

“Easy as pie,” Roy sang.

Jason reached up and flicked off the fasten seatbelt sign and turned on the intercom. “Good afternoon passengers, we’ve reached cruising altitude and it’s now safe to move about the cabin. I’m glad you all chose to join us for today’s flight and our time spent in the air with the clouds is around three hours and 45 minutes before we reach Gotham City. Enjoy your flight and a special thanks to Nathaniel who helped get us up in the air with his amazing pterodactyl powers today.”

He grinned and flicked off the intercom.

“That’s it! I knew you would do it!”

Jason frowned and glanced at Roy. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the whole tell the other passengers about that little kid that you calmed down earlier. You couldn’t go this flight without telling everyone about him!”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Jason asked. “The kid was upset and I’m sure he’s probably thrilled right now and actually excited about flying.”

“Maybe one of these days you’ll understand,” Roy muttered. He grabbed his coffee and took a long drink.

“Whatever you say,” Jason sighed, settling in for the rest of their flight until they reached Gotham.

~~

Jason let out a deep breath as the airplane cooled down. He sagged back in his chair and barely kept from rubbing his eyes and trying to get them to focus again.

Continental flights were easier compared to some of the international ones, but landing never failed to use up whatever energy or stamina he had left for the day.

“Come on, the sooner we get through the post-flight checks, the sooner we can get off this plane and get some rest,” Roy said, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder.

Jason tried to force a smile and nodded. “Although, even if we get them done in the next five minutes, we still have to wait for everyone else to get off first. And for the flight attendants to finish cleaning up.”

“You can always give them a hand,” Roy said, tossing one of their binders at him.

Jason made a face and flipped open to the correct page, throwing himself into the last few tasks of the day before he was officially done.

He scrubbed at his eyes as he made a few notes and checked the plane’s settings. The words and numbers were blurring together and he’d need another cup of coffee on his way home to keep him sane.

“Here,” Roy muttered, grabbing his binder and jotting down the last few things he was missing.

“Thanks, man. Although I think I should be doing that considering how tired you were at the beginning of this flight.”

He shrugged. “I may be tired, but flying always gives me a certain adrenaline rush that keeps me buzzing for a couple hours after we land. It’s no problem. By the time I get home I’ll almost be ready to crash. Right after I get a hot shower in anyway.”

Jason chuckled and pushed himself from his chair. He moved clear of any switches and buttons and stretched his arms over his head, feeling his back pop in several places from sitting for so long.

“A hot shower sounds amazing. You have everything done?”

Roy nodded and climbed out of his own seat. They collected their trash and finally pulled open the door to the cockpit, revealing a mostly empty plane aside from the flight attendants, tidying up the last few things.

“Mind if we toss a few last things in?” Jason asked with a tired smile.

Tim nodded, looking a bit tired himself and held out the trash bag, letting them dump their things in.

“We’re just about finished,” Tim said. “I think there’s one last bag at the back that Mary’s taking care of and then we’ll be out of here.”

“I think you mean we are finished,” Mary said, carrying to bags towards the front with a big smile on her face, looking the most chipper of them all.

“I’m so glad they have the bin ready for us this time,” Tim sighed, tossing the bags into the bin on the ramp leading up to the terminal.

Jason busied himself with pulling their bags free from the storage area. Roy reached around him and grabbed his, moving out of the way of everyone else. Jason shouldered his backpack and tossed Tim’s bag to him before passing the other two to the other flight attendants.

They trudged up the flight together, Roy, Tim, and Jason hanging back behind the other two.

“Nathaniel was ecstatic when you said his name over the announcements at the beginning of the flight,” Tim murmured. “His mother was happy and he practically shrieked, making everyone around him laugh. You really changed his view of flying and made this a better day than any of those people could’ve expected.”

Jason shrugged. “I was just helping out. He’s a cute kid and flying’s not too bad after you do it the first time.”

“Well, you’re really good with kids, I don’t care what you say.”

Jason flushed and ran a hand through his hair. “I guess…”

Roy gagged next to him. “Please, the two of you should just kiss already and go off to your date that I’m sure you’re going to be having after this,” he muttered, quickening his pace to get ahead of them.

Jason’s flush deepened and he cleared his throat. He glanced at Tim who was biting his lip and staring down at his feet as he walked.

“Sorry about him,” he murmured. “He’s been pretty relentless about the two of us. Keeps saying things about how we should just admit we’re dating already and that the flight community can’t stop gossiping about us.”

Tim chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve been getting a lot of that too from the flight attendants I’ve been working with. I’m not really sure where they’re getting those ideas considering I haven’t breathed a word to anyone about…you know…”

“Yeah,” Jason admitted. “Me neither.”

“Well,” Tim said, straightening his shoulders as they stepped through the gate door and into the main terminal of the airport, “until the next flight then.”

“Yeah…”

Tim nodded at him and strode past the line of waiting passengers. Jason stared after him, watching him walk away.

Something hard impacted his arm and he winced, glaring at Roy who rolled his eyes.

“Just get your head out of your ass and ask him on a damn date. No more of this star-crossed lovers shit where you say sappy lines like that. It’s disgusting. Now let’s go.” Roy wrapped his arm around Jason’s neck and forced him to stay closed to his side or risk being choked.

Jason didn’t really think it could be so easy. He’d never had a mildly successful relationship after his piloting career took off. But he’d never tried dating someone in the same industry either. And maybe that would be just enough to make a difference.

That and a little luck and passion. Roy might be sick of the mushy romance ideas, but Jason certainly wasn’t. Not when he could spoil someone like Tim rotten and give them everything he had to give.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://my-one-love-is-music.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/m_o_l_i_m)


End file.
